9/9/10

A Government Jobs Program That Works

While writing a piece recently about the futility of trying to reason with street thugs, I touched on the concept of the law of unintended consequences, this time applied to well meaning government meddling in the lifestyle of those citizens too dumb to be legislators.

The meddling in question is that body of laws enacted at all levels of government, from the local to the federal, without regard to party affiliation, that have resulted in the second American Prohibition. The outcome of that cooperative effort should be a lesson to anyone who is "illusioned" enough to believe that bi-partisanship is a panacea for what ails the republic.

Indeed, every politician with a wet finger and a political breeze to hoist it into hopped aboard the War On Drugs bandwagon at some point since the seventies. From 1971 when Nixon first declared it, to Clinton who used drugs but didn't and Obama who used them and admitted it, both political parties have waged it even though not a single battle has been won, much less the war. Both Conservatives and Liberals see value in this kind of "war." Even those politicians who used the stuff figured out a way to support the laws against it. (Al Gore still looks stoned to me and his war on CO2 seems to bear that out.) I suspect that even today, most people who use them still think they should remain illegal. I remain opposed to both the use of them and the draconian laws prohibiting their use.

The truth is, anyone who wants to obtain forbidden substances can do so with little effort. It seems certain that it was more inconvenient to do so before the "war" began. And it doesn't even matter where you are. Wherever you are, you can bet with confidence that illicit drugs are within walking distance, if not sneezing distance. All efforts to keep them out of maximum security prisons have met with failure, and if they can't keep it out of there, where?

The whole concept of wars on objects is preposterous. In reality, It's a war on the people who "choose to use." It's a war on those who apparently do not have a right to the pursuit of happiness. Leaving aside that it doesn't end in happiness for the dimwit users, they must think it will. But at least it makes some folks happy. The vendors and those who earn money by trying to stop them from vending can be added to the politicians on that list for certain.

Which is why my observation concerning government jobs programs appears at the top of this page.

The so called "War on Drugs" is the most successful jobs creation program ever enacted by the federal government.

After all the failures of government programs to do what they intend, particularly concerning job creation, it's about time we recognised one that succeeded in creating jobs, even if that was not the intent. It's been a success story that has been missed by the media and I don't mind telling you it's just one more strike against them in my opinion.

Think of all the ten year old sentries and couriers who have gainful employment because of these laws! All those jobs in sales, chemical engineering, delivery men, guards, gun manufacturing, gangster pants designers, sideways ball cap makers and crack pipe makers have been created in enormous quantities because of the wisdom of government.

To say nothing of the DEA employees, dog trainers, chemical testing labs, prosecutors, police, defense attorneys, prison employees and undertakers who would be on welfare if they didn't have swell jobs like those.

But all this good news must be tempered with one more failure of the wise "legislators" in Congress. Nowhere in the two thousand plus page Obama-care law that none of them read is a provision for one more great idea which would help government stimulate the economy just when we need it.

That provision should be for a few trillion more fiat dollars to be printed so we can place orders with the new entrepreneurs for enough pot to buy every voter enough doobies to make them giggle at what has been happening to them instead of puking.

See? It's just as the medical marijuana advocates have told us, Pot can cure nausea.